If you’re one of the thousands of businesses across the UK using Microsoft 365, you may have heard that changes are afoot, including a price increase.

These changes are coming into play on 1st March 2022. At the time of writing this article, the UK prices have not yet been released.

It’s important to note that this is the first price increase Microsoft has introduced since the launch of 365 over a decade ago. It’s fair to say that the innovation and array of features you can now enjoy with this tool is far greater than what was on offer 10 years ago. So a price increase, though never welcomed, was fairly inevitable.

But what do these changes mean for your business?

In a nutshell, Microsoft have introduced a New Commerce Experience (NCE) model for Office 365, which is essentially driving customers to take up longer term license commitments. This aims to reduce complexity around subscriptions and offers cost savings for longer term contracts.

Businesses however will have to swallow a price increase of around 15% however, which is significant.

Microsoft are also removing the flexibility around licenses too; as of 1st March 2022, you wont be able to cancel licenses that you no longer need mid contract like you can now. Which is bad news for businesses who need to flex license numbers often. So that’s most businesses then!

The option to add licenses at any time will remain however.

As of 1st march 2022 there will be three new subscription types and here’s a breakdown of their key features:

Monthly subscription

• This one is billed monthly
• You’ll have a 72 hour window to adjust your numbers, after that there’s no option to reduce your numbers until the end of that billed month
• You can add licenses as your business grows at any time
• This subscription will be charged at a 20% premium to the annual subscription (See below)

Annual Subscription

• You can choose to be billed monthly or annually with this one
• You’ll have a 72 hour window to adjust your numbers, after that there’s no option to reduce your numbers until the end of the 12 month period.
• You can add licenses as your business grows at any time
• You will benefit from a cost saving of around 20% off the monthly subscription

36 Month Subscription

• You can choose to be billed monthly, annually or upfront
• You’ll have a 72 hour window to adjust your numbers, after that there’s no option to reduce your numbers until the end of the 36 month period
• You can add licenses as your business grows at any time
• This subscription will offer an additional saving to the 12 month subscription (saving percentage unknown at present)

So as you can see, none of these options will allow your business to remove licenses / reduce costs mid contract, except in those first 72 hours.

However if you act quickly you can take advantage of this:

Microsoft 365 Lock In Offer – valid until 1st March 2022

Microsoft have announced that if you move your current licences to a 12 month contract BEFORE the 1st March 2022, you can lock in your current prices for the next 12 months. Avoiding the price increase in March. You still wont be able to remove or cancel licenses mid contract, but you will enjoy a continuation of your current pricing. A deal definitely worth considering.

As further updates are announced, we’ll update this article, so please keep checking back.

If you’d like to speak to our team today for advice on your Microsoft licenses, give us a call on 01392 796 779 or email us.